Top 10 Worst Horror Movie Endings

It should go without saying that if you clicked to read this that you will be seeing TEN big movie spoilers here. So if you want to keep on reading here you should be warned! Also keep in mind that opinions are opinions. It’s ok to have one, as long as it’s an INFORMED opinion. I consider myself informed with these since I’ve actually seen them and this is based on my personal taste. That being said, your feedback is more than welcome

10: Strange Behavior (1981)

What Happens: After a group of kids in a small town have been brainwashed by a professor everyone thought to be dead, the father of our main character charged the location of this professor not knowing he’s actually still alive only to be blindsided by his own son who has been programmed to kill his own father. In a turn of events, the son in question kills the professor in a big reveal that HE was actually the boy’s father. We are then treated to a very awkward happy ending where the boy’s not real father (but they count it anyway) gets hitched to his main squeeze as the towns teens who were brainwashed before to kill people watch in glee! The movie then ends.

Why it’s Bad: Well for one, it’s about an abrupt of an ending as you can get. Second of all, nobody apparently has to pay for their crimes due to the fact they were brainwashed I assume. That’s somewhat logical but a bit of an out. And the ending just seems awkward. It makes you wait for another foot to drop, but it never does.

09: Day of the Dead (1985)

What Happens: The zombies have stormed the fort where our scientist and our hateful soldiers lurk! John, Sarah and McDermott manage to find an escape from the zombie infested corral and head to the surface. Sarah boards the helicopter, only to be attacked by a zombie inside. Then POOF! Sarah wakes up and it was all a dream! Or at least the last part was. These three are on an island having a good ol’ time as the film ends.

Why it’s Bad: Doesn’t that “dream” ending seem rather pointless? It’s hinted at even from the start but it’s just pointless. It was designed to shock the viewer but it also doesn’t add up very well. Do we just assume Sarah and crew simply made their escape without issue? More details are needed.

08: The Innkeepers (2011)

What Happens: After a night of paranormal events, our main character, Claire, heads for the basement (not sure if that’s what they really call it but we’ll go with it) of the hotel ALONE! She trips down the stairs and smacks her head, opening a gash. After she sees some rather gnarly stuff , she attempts to make her way out of the basement. As luck would have it, the exit is chained down. Unable to escape she turns to see the main ghost of the plot. The ghost approaches and we cut to black. The next morning we pick up with the aftermath and Clair is dead. She has a history of asthma problems so it’s naturally blamed on that. BOOOOOOOOoooo!!!

Why it’s Bad: Well, there isn’t anything wrong with this ending per-say. But Clair was a really likeable character and it sucks majorly to see her die. On one hand it’s a great show of storytelling from Ti West to shock the crowd and have her actually die. But on the other it bums you out and does somewhat sour you on the film overall.

07: Black Christmas (2006)What Happens: After all the chaos at the house is over, Kelly and Leigh are treated at the hospital. While Kelly goes for an x-ray, Agnes appears in the hospital unharmed and kills Leigh. Billy takes out a hospital employee. When Kelly returns to her room, Agnes enters through the ceiling and attacks her as well but Kelly uses the defibrillator and kills her. Billy proceeds to enters also through the ceiling and chases after Kelly. They end up in the stairway, where Kelly pushes Billy down the stairs where he is impaled on the tip of a Christmas tree, killing him. Ho-Ho-Ho, Merry f’n Christmas!

Why it’s Bad: Well you could make a case that this movie even being made was bad enough but I digress. If you want a prime example of a movie ending be dragged out to the point of being ridiculous, this would be it. They change soo much from the original Black Christmas that it hardly even looks like what it’s supposed to be. But if anything else, this movie should have ended in the house. Instead we are witness to this being dragged out waaaaay too long. And it makes an already bad movie much worse.

06: Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974)

What Happens: George arrives at the hospital to save Edna! He starts setting fire to zombies but it turns out that he was too late to save Edna and as she suddenly attacks him, he pushes her into a room, which is now burning. George is then shot four times by the asshole Sergeant, who didn’t like George anyway because he has long hair. In the end, our Sergent makes a comment about how he wishes George was alive so he could kill him again. When the Sergent arrives at a hotel room where he runs into Zombie George who finally takes out our jerk of a police Sergent with a choke. These zombies must be vegetarians.

Why it’s Bad: Well the movie never really tells us how these zombies work. How smart they are is never really told. But somehow George, now a zombie, finds his way to the room of the Sergent. How did he know where he was? Surely someone in the UK would notice a dead man walking along the side of the road?

05: The Descent: Part 2 (2009)

What Happens: So our main two character we are about apparently die (for real this time?) as it helps the film’s most boring character, Elen, make it out. Elen bursts through the exit of the cave, just like Sarah did when she originally escaped in part 1, and is about to call for help using her cell phone. She is then cold-cocked by Ed who hits her with a shovel and drags her back to the entrance to be food for the crawlers. As Elen recovers quietly from the hit, a bloodied crawler jumps out of the entrance as the movie ends.

Why it’s Bad: The whole movie kinda kills the good thing that was the near perfect original. The only characters anyone really care about are done in in dramatic fashion to allow someone that nobody cares about to live. But that’s ended on a sour note by a really bad swerve. This makes the brave acts of our main characters pointless. This whole film and it’s bad ending should be reason enough why some film’s don’t need sequels.

04: Christmas Evil (1980)

What Happens: Phil finally gets a damn clue and realizes that his brother Harry is the homicidal Santa he has heard announced on the news. When he figures this out he does the brotherly thing and proceeds to choke him unconscious. He loads him into the front seat of the van, and then finally Harry comes-to, KOs him, and again drives off. Here is where it gets good.. During his escape, the oncoming mob forces him and his van off a bridge. At this point the van then is shown to fly off towards the moon as a voice over reads the end of “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”..Um..Ok?

Why it’s Bad: You may want to read that last line there again..A movie that never really hints at anything in THAT sorta style, decides to take a movie that was bit like Taxi Driver in theme and end it like a cartoon. It’s a 180 from what we’ve been shown up to this point and it kinda just leaves you scratching your head.

03: Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)

What Happens: After Loomis goes all gangsta and beats Myers unconscious, Michael is locked up in the local sheriff’s station, to eventually be escorted to a maximum-security prison. However, the stranger in black arrives and attacks the police station, shooting the policeman and causing an explosion, thus killing Sheriff Meeker and six others. At the end of the movie, Jamie walks through the station finding the bodies of gunned officers, and goes over to Micheal’s holding cell to discover that it is empty.

Why it’s Bad: Would this ending be as bad had it had any real follow up with the films to come? Probably not. And hindsight is always 20/20 as they say. But now knowing what was to come, this ending was just a total waste. Halloween would go even more in the crapper after this and this ending could be seen as the main start of that.

02: Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)

What Happens: It’s a pretty typical TCM movie at this point as Leatherface is giving chase to Jenny. Suddenly, a black car is seen on the road and Jenny gets into it. It’s revealed that Rothman is inside the car. He tells Jenny not to worry, apologizes for all of the events and explains that this was intended to be a “spiritual experience”. Meanwhile, Leatherface watches the black car and proceeds to start up his chainsaw and swing it around. After Jenny curses at Rothman inside the car, he tells her that he can take her to a hospital or a police station.

Why it’s Bad: This film is a mess..One of the biggest messes I’ve ever seen and the ending makes no sense at all. We sit through this thing and THAT is what they give us for the end? This was soo bad that they had no choice but to do a reboot of the franchise. And while it may not be as much on the ending as it is the movie as a whole, Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey did try to buy the film and keep it from coming out. I’m sure the ending helped them decide they didn’t want it to see the light of day.

01: Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

What Happens: Rennie and Sean run onto the New York Subway system, but are trapped by Jason. Sean pulls the emergency brake and the two escape, followed by Jason. Sean tackles Jason and Jason is electrocuted by the ground wires, seemingly killing him. The two leave the subway and come up into Times Square where Jason, still alive, follows. The two run from Jason. While chasing them, Jason disturbs four punks, who want to fight him, but Jason merely lifts up his mask to show them his face and they flee. Rennie and Sean run into a diner but are forced to run when Jason crashes through a wall to get to them. They run into the sewers, where Jason follows and kills a sanitation worker. Rennie attacks Jason with toxic waste, much of his body melting as a result. After an ensuing flooding of the sewer that Rennie and Sean manage to avoid, all that is left of Jason is a young boy lying at the bottom of the sewer with a hockey mask on his face. Rennie and Sean reunite with Toby on the streets above.

Why it’s Bad: Well in a film that should have been originally titled Jason Takes A Cruise and Briefly Stops in Manhattan, we get an ending and a movie as a whole that doesn’t make any sense at all. The spirit of Jason in boy form sometimes is deformed and he sometimes isn’t. Then when he gets this big ass sewer bath at the end it not only kills Jason but it apparently melts him down into his child form?..Yeah, folks. It makes no sense and apparently nobody knew where to go from here. Paramount would sell the rights and when Jason went to hell next, what happened after this film’s events were never explained and what did go down was quickly swept under the rug..And rightfully so.